Make the move yourself first: transformations

What is a transformation question?

A shape is moved on a grid and your child has to say where it ends up, or which of several pictures shows the result.

Three moves come up. A translation slides it. A reflection flips it. A rotation turns it.

By Year 5 your child has met all three. What has changed is that the questions now come two moves at a time, sometimes with diagonal mirror lines, and always with an option in the row that has been drawn specifically to look right.

Move it, then match it

Step three is the whole defence. A child who looks at the options first is choosing between five pictures, one of which was drawn to catch them. A child who has already worked out where the shape must be is only checking which option agrees — a much easier question, and one the distractor cannot touch.

Telling a turn from a flip

Two moves, in order

Reflecting and then translating does not land in the same place as translating and then reflecting.

So the order the question gives is part of the question. Do the first move, draw the result, and do the second from there. Attempting both at once is where two-move questions go wrong, and drawing the intermediate step costs about five seconds.

Where do pupils lose marks?

Looking at the options first, and being caught by the one drawn for that.

Choosing a reflection when a rotation was asked for, which the order test settles.

Doing two moves in the wrong order, or simultaneously.

Eyeballing a diagonal mirror line instead of counting point by point.

Try it yourself

Do the move on paper before looking at any options. Track one landmark rather than the whole shape.

1. Translate the point (−4, 3) five squares right and two squares down. Where does it land?
2. A shape is reflected, then translated. Which should you do first?
3. How can you tell a rotation from a reflection without measuring?
4. A shape is translated three right and four up. Does it face the same way afterwards?
5. Why does counting the squares first save time rather than costing it?

Show Answers

How much practice does this type need at home?

Cut a shape from card — something with an obvious corner or notch so there is a landmark worth following — and move it on squared paper. Slide it, flip it, turn it, and ask your child to describe what you did.

Describing the move is harder than performing it, and it forces the vocabulary the question uses. Then reverse the roles and let them move it while you describe, so they hear the words being applied to something they can see.